Thoughts from the interface of science, religion, law and culture

After spending several years touring the country as a stand up comedian, Ed Brayton tired of explaining his jokes to small groups of dazed illiterates and turned to writing as the most common outlet for the voices in his head. He has appeared on the Rachel Maddow Show and the Thom Hartmann Show, and is almost certain that he is the only person ever to make fun of Chuck Norris on C-SPAN.

EVENTS

Bachmann Runs From Her Own Lies

At CPAC, Michele Bachmann told several lies about the Obama white house, claiming that they spent $1.4 billion a year on things like dog walkers and when CNN called her out on those lies she literally ran away from their reporter, pausing only to say, in essence, that it didn’t matter that she lied because it was all about Benghazi. The truth simply does not matter to her.

Comments

She has two degrees, one in law, passed the bar. She wasn’t stupid. These days she shouldn’t cross the street without her minder.

It does look like she just makes things up as she goes along without any care as to whether it is true or not. The question isn’t whether she ever got anything wrong. That is close to 100% of the time.

The question is whether she ever got anything right.

FWIW, it is possible that Bachmann has managed to make herself irrelevant. When someone is consistently incorrect about everything and unable to do simple tasks like spend 30 seconds with Google searches, why bother paying attention?

It’s not like she went to a top flight law school, you know. She was in the first class of the O. W. Coburn School of Law when it was part of Oral Roberts University. That school was only open for 6 years, then its law library, students & professors were all moved to become a new law school at Christian Broadcasting Network University, founded by our old buddy Pat Robertson. We all know that school as Regent University, where our last president culled most of his staff from.

Maybe saying she wasn’t stupid because she has a law degree falls into the fallacy of argument from authority.

Apr 8, 2007 – Regent University School of Law, founded by televangelist Pat … the most influential of the more than 150 Regent University alumni hired to federal … is ranked a “tier four” school by US News & World Report, the lowest score and … As the dean of a lower-ranked law school that benefited from the Bush …

OTOH, as I just found out, she also has a masters from the College of William and Mary, not exactly a diploma mill.

FWIW, it is possible that Bachmann has managed to make herself irrelevant. When someone is consistently incorrect about everything and unable to do simple tasks like spend 30 seconds with Google searches, why bother paying attention?

We pay attention because millions of conservative Christians are influenced by her. She has a national following who are so devoted to her and her beliefs they predominately fund her House campaigns in spite of not living in her district. She’s a Liar for Jesus® par excellence. And her reactive, “but, but, but, BENGHAZI!!!” exclamation is a very popular meme amongst conservatives in general. It has been ever since that tragedy occurred where it it’s also one of their favorite red herrings as illustrated in this CNN clip. (Anderson Cooper’s AC360 ran it this past week so I suggest going there to find this clip if this one isn’t working.)

Benghazi’s a popular conservative meme in spite of the fact that if we consistently used a standard that required us to condemn the president and his administrations for Benghazi, we’d have to nuke Republican leaders using that same standard given their far more egregious behavior when in power, e.g., their execution of the Iraq War and the resulting blow-back against our military personnel which killed or maimed far more than Benghazi. Also, Abe Lincoln would have to be the worst president ever if use the GOP Benghazi standard while George Washington would also be in their hall of shame.

It’s also ironic conservatives use Benghazi to condemn the president given that our activity in Libya has been an enormous success, especially when we compare our actions and results there to Iraq.

All of these authoritarian morons, Bachmann, the Disco Tooters, Barton hide behind their walls of willful ignorance (controlled conservative venues, conservative radio stations, church basements) where they are totally unchallenged. Bachmann can shout “Benghazi” to her heart’s content knowing that she’s not going to be called in public for it. She looked totally terrified at being caught by the CNN reporter as she ran from one hidey hole to another.

It wasn’t a big surprise that the GOP “autopsy” called for LESS DEBATES. Big duh! When Perry re-ran for governor he refused to debate former Houston mayor Bill White who would have demolished him. Nor did he meet with editorial boards who would have done the same thing. Perry’s campaign was strictly controlled ads and press releases.

Now, look, Ed Brayton, her statements might not technically be true, but they’re about The Other, so that’s okay. If you knew what those people were really up to, it would curl your toes. Stay tuned for Michele’s next statement to see what they’re really up to. And if that one turns out to not be technically true, wait for the next one. And if that one’s the same way, go back to the first. She will.

Michael Heath“It’s also ironic conservatives use Benghazi to condemn the president given that our activity in Libya has been an enormous success, especially when we compare our actions and results there to Iraq.”
Balderpucky! Libya can’t be a success, even compared to the so-called “mess” in so-called “Iraq”. Because Obama. And also Iraq is Obama’s fault.

Doc Bill“They can’t stand the light of day.”
Do you know what really can’t stand the light of day? Benghazi!

They never did disclose their economic and tax plans during the campaign.

Ryan is still doing it. His latest tax plan has more detail but not by much. It is to cut deeply into Medicaid and food stamps while lowering the taxes on the rich from maximum 39% to 25%. There are still no details on just how much he wants to cut social safety net programs while reducing taxes on the wealthy.

This is strictly a plan that would appeal to the 1% and not even a lot of them. It doesn’t help to be super wealthy when lots of poor and hungry people are roaming the streets. You end up a prisoner in your heavily defended compound or living abroad in a civilized country. If you look where the oligarchic elites from the third world live, they all have homes in Europe and the USA.

Orly Taitz also passed the bar, so that’s not much of an indicator of intelligence.

Still, I don’t think Bachmann is stupid. Batshit insane, but not stupid.

Her big issue is that she doesn’t really care if what she says is true or not. She’s found a political niche in throwing out red meat to the base and getting them riled up. It’s enabled her to be a funding raising machine and stay in office. The fact that it’s also made her a national joke doesn’t seem to bother her.

I’m beginning to get a really low opinion of what “passing the bar” means.

As an attorney, I’m of the opinion that the Bar Exam tests primarily for the ability to handle the stress of working toward a “big moment.”

It’s a two or three day long test (depending on state) that is the culmination of three years of law school, and when you get the study materials it’s like a 35lb box of books.

But the test itself is ridiculously easy as long as you’re moderately well prepared. It’s a mile wide and an inch deep, and a passing grade is as much writing a coherent essay in 45 minutes and identifying the points of law at issue as it is actually knowing the law. There’s little complexity in any of the questions, it’s “spot issue, recall *the rule,” apply the rule, get answer.

The real test in my opinion is how you approach a three day long test. Sitting down with 1500 pages of study material, working through it in a coherent manner, and then being aware and able to function under the stress of knowing that three years of work goes into this and that this test determines your future.

A lot of people, and by that I mean even 10 or 15% of the test takers every year simply can’t handle that stress and break down. They either didn’t study right, or they get into the test and freak out and don’t finish, or just write down gibberish.